Chapter 2!

2

The Boy and His Dragon

The two children didn’t know what to do as the night wore on and the suns began to sink below the horizon. Gilbert said it would be best to look for water and proceed to do so with his sister following close behind as they took off running into the never ending expanse. Hill after hill rolled after each other and the same landscape repeatedly going with no foreseeable end, This world reminded Felicity all too much of her never ending road back home.  Maybe this place is where our road leads to and this place loops back around to the road. She told Gilbert her thoughts and he immediately proved it false.

“For one thing Earth doesn’t have two suns or a sky like this place has.”

“Well then where could we be?” cried Felicity.

“You’re in Simyra” replied a strange voice behind them. Felicity and Gilbert spun around. Both felt an overwhelming relief and comfort to see another human being.

The voice belonged to a young man appearing to be about fourteen. He was taller than the Ross children and had broad shoulders and a thick muscular build. The boy had a defined face with high cheekbones and a pair of sharp eyes. Felicity immediately noticed his evergreen eye color. He had on an ivory tunic and black tights. His brown boots had the same leathery qualities of the tree. Around his neck hung a string with a black object. The object was circular and smooth with two unreadable symbols carved into it. Felicity thought he looked kingly almost.

“Hi’ Felicity greeted in a friendly manner.

The boy studied them with apparent amusement. Felicity saw the way he looked at their outfits and felt embarrassed and odd. “Who are you two? I have never seen you before. What are these costumes and where are your identifications?

“I’m Felicity and this is my brother Gilbert. Were….not from around here.”

The boy frowned “where else could you be from? There is nowhere else but the sea and mountains and you don’t appear to be from either.”

“No,” said Gilbert. “We don’t live in the sea or in the mountains. We live on Earth in America.”

“America? Earth? The Ammar would have known of it if it was in Simyra, How could that place be real” said the puzzled boy.

Gilbert thoughtfully considered his next words. “Who is The Ammar?”

The boy threw up his hands in the air. “Who is The Ammar?” he exclaimed. “Now I’ve heard it all!.”

“Is that like your leader?” asked Felicity

“I suppose you could put it that way,” the boy said.

The boy looked Felicity and Gilbert up and down again. “Come with me” he suddenly commanded.

Felicity looked uncertainly at her brother. Gilbert shrugged and followed the stranger. Felicity hesitantly came along.

“I will take you to The Ammar and maybe they will know more about you. But on our way tell me how and why you are here and what your positions are” the boy suggested.

“You tell us your name and we will maybe answer your questions,” Gilbert said before his sister could answer.

“Very well, I am Ramiro,” said the boy.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Ramiro,” Felicity said with a short curtsy.

Ramiro nodded in acknowledgement.

The three children walked on through the night. Though both of the Ross kids thought that it was more like dusk due to the brightness the billions of stars provided.  Felicity was cheerful and full of wonder and questions as many as the stars above,  “Ramiro, what are those plants called? Why do you have two suns? Why is it so bright out? Do you go to sleep? Does the sea go on forever? Do you eat anything? Do you have anything to drink? Might some of your plants be poisonous?” Questions spewed out of Felicity’s mouth faster that Ramiro could even begin to answer. On and on she went not seeming to care for any answers only to get the questions out. Gilbert thought of asking her to stop but figured she wouldn’t listen to him.

After what felt like eternity Felicity finally drew silent. Dumbstruck she stopped in her tracks. Gilbert wondered at what this meant until he spotted the dragon-like creature in front of them. His mouth fell open and his heart skipped a beat.

It was indeed a dragon. Its enormous serpent-like body stretched twenty feet from the tip of its nose to the end of its tail, with illuminescent scarlet scales armoring its body and long, thick wings. The wings themselves must have been twice the size of the beast’s large body. The animal was curled into a ball with its wings folded protectively over itself. When it heard their approach it raised its head and Felicity caught sight of a glowing blue gem remarkably like a sapphire that hung around the dragon’s neck and eyes strangely and beautifully intelligent. Two long black horns adored its kingly face beside his ears and whiskers under his mouth and side of its face. The dragon made an almost cooing sound and nuzzled Ramiro. When it saw the Ross children it lowered its body closer to the ground creeping towards them, like a pouncing cat. Its eyes stared down Felicity making her feel uncomfortable. Like the beast had seen her very soul. A shiver slithered down her spine. The beast held up one of its front legs revealing five long sharp black claws of the same substance as the horns on his face. It drew one up above the others and touched one of Felicity’s curls. Felicity shrieked and flew backwards, tripping over a stone and falling on her back. The dragon cocked its head to the side, considering her for one long almost unbearable moment.

“Eeki!” the boy made a long high pitched whistle. He grabbed the beast’s face in his two laughably small hands. Lapsing into a different language he seemed to scold the beast.

His fury deflated, Ramiro turned back to Felicity and Gilbert. Felicity still was laying on the pale blue grass trembling like a leaf. The shock had worn off and it was starting to set in that she was seeing a real live dragon.

“It’s okay. Eeki won’t harm you” comforted the boy.

Felicity slowly got up and approached the dragon. Hesitantly she held out her hand and the dragon immediately nuzzled it making a soft purring noise. Felicity laughed sheepishly. Felicity didn’t consider any of obvious dangers of the beast. A strong loving and knowing look was fixed in the dragon’s eyes.  Its gaze would have melted a heart of stone. At that moment Felicity closed her eyes. One of her hands moved along the beast till she came to its wings and the other she clasped to her chest. Reopening her eyes she looked into the animal’s and it nodded. Felicity proceeded to get onto its back. “Are we going to go?” she asked impatiently to both boys who stared at her with wonder.

“I’ve never seen a dragon take such a liking to someone so fast. It’s strange to me how interested Eeki is in you” Ramiro said as he mounted the mighty beast.

“Why were you acting all weird?” asked Gilbert to his sister. He warily stepped beside the dragon. When he laid his hand on the dragons back it angrily blew a huff of breath and swiftly Gilbert removed his hand.

Ramiro patted the side of Eeki’s neck “it’s okay he’s not going to hurt you.” Ramiro gestured for Gilbert to try again. The same thing happened.

“I have an idea’ Felicity slipped off Eeki’s back and took her brother’s hand. “Here place your hand over mine.” Gilbert obeyed and this time the beast made no fuss about Gilbert. “Now I’ll help you up and show Eeki you’re okay.” Felicity gracefully climbed up his back and held out a hand for her brother. Gilbert reluctantly grasped it. Felicity pulled him up.

Ramiro whistled a command and the dragon took to the air.

-Hopefully you enjoyed chapter 2 and I have more where that came from! There are 22 chapters that I have written in this 1st book,  chapters in the 2nd,  chapters in the 3rd, and the fourth book is still in progress but should be the longest one of them all. Would love to hear some feedback if anybody thinks trying to get this series published is worth my time. Thanks for reading!